In a Cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday, the Government announced the
restructuring of two ministries -- the Ministry of Community
Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) and the Ministry of
Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA).
Three new ministries will be formed -- the Ministry of Social and
Family Development (MSFD), the Ministry of Culture, Community and
Youth (MCCY), and the Ministry of Communications and Information
(MCI). They will take effect from 1 November.
Tharman Shanmugaratnam will relinquish his appointment as Minister
for Manpower. He will remain Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for
Finance and Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Tan Chuan-Jin will become the new Acting Minister for
Ministry of Manpower and Senior Minister of State for National
Development.
Read the Prime Minister's press statement:
Singapore is in a new phase of development. Social and community
issues are increasingly important in our shared home. First, we
need to strengthen our families and enhance our social safety nets
to help those in need. Second, we must foster the arts and sports,
and build social capital through volunteerism, while engaging our
youth to shape our future together. Third, we have to improve
public communications and engagement, so as to reach out more
effectively to our increasingly diverse society in the age of
social media and rapid technological progress.
The above priorities are currently overseen by MCYS and MICA. To
focus more sharply on these increasingly important areas of work,
and to improve synergies across related issues, the current
portfolios of MCYS and MICA will be re-distributed to three
ministries:
a) A new ministry - the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth
(MCCY) - will be established to focus on building a cohesive and
vibrant society, and deepening the sense of identity and belonging
to the nation. It will assume MCYS' current roles in strengthening
community bonds, promoting volunteerism and philanthropy, engaging
youth, and developing the sports. It will also assume MICA's arts,
heritage and national resilience functions;
b) MCYS will be renamed the Ministry of Social and Family
Development (MSF). It will focus on building strong families,
developing our social services and looking after those in need of
social support. There is synergy between these portfolios as the
family unit is, and should rightfully remain, the fundamental
building block of our society; and
c) MICA will be renamed the Ministry of Communications and
Information (MCI). It will oversee the development of the infocomm
technology, media and design sectors; the national and public
libraries; as well as Government's information and public
communications policies. REACH will be transferred from the current
MCYS to MCI. The reorganisation will enable the Government to focus
more sharply on communication and information.
The above changes will take effect on 1 Nov 2012.
